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Thank You Harry Potter!

Original post made
by Family of Fans, College Terrace,
on Jul 22, 2007

We have been reading and reading....And we have finished the saga.

Thank you Harry Potter!

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Posted by Kathy
a resident of Greenmeadow
on Jul 23, 2007 at 9:05 pm

Seconded! My kids are much older now (15 and 12) but I still read the whole thing aloud, since I've been doing that all the way along.

We were riveted, and have spent much time today talking about lingering questions, observations, and (yes) sorrows. What a rich tapestry of story she gave us! How lucky that Harry Potter was part of our kids' growing up.

Posted by That Potter boy
a resident of Barron Park
on Jul 24, 2007 at 10:31 am

I'm saddened to see the Harry Potter tale ending, but want to applaud Kepler's for hosting such a fun, exciting night last Friday. JK Rowling has written seven phenomenal books -- thanks for the adventure JK!

Posted by natasha
a resident of Meadow Park
on Jul 24, 2007 at 12:45 pm

I really liked this book. It satisfyingly tied up many loose ends, and the ending was touching and satisfying and made sense in the context of the Harry Potter world. I have to say, I liked it almost as much as the first (which was my favorite) -- probably only ALMOST as much because it was so delightful to enter that world for the first time.

I have just finished book 7 of Harry Potter and wish to discuss some lingering questions with others who have finished the book.
How long can we wait without spoiling the book for others who haven't finished it yet? Could we have a spoilers section separate from this section?

Posted by Parent
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jul 28, 2007 at 2:24 pm

Yes, please keep spoilers away. We have two copies of the book in this house and I am not sure when I will get down to reading it. As it is, those who have read and those who have not are doing their best to spoil it for me!!

Posted by natasha
a resident of Meadow Park
on Jul 30, 2007 at 2:21 pm

The only way you can become the master is by taking it FROM the most recent master. So Draco became the master by taking it from Dumbledore. When Harry took it from him, rather than being given it, he became the new master. I think.

I don't think this is a spoiler because it is a question about an earlier book. Can anyone remember and tell me how Draco Mafloy got Dumbledore's wand and how D got it back? Is this in the prior book or which book?

I found an answer to my own question on some fan blog. I can't find it again but had time to copy the bit below and send it to myself in an email. (Since I use the library Internet, I ran out of time.)

HERE IT IS

Why was Draco the rightful owner of the Elder Wand? How did that work against Voldemort? Nick

Deep breath: When Draco disarmed Dumbledore at the end of book 6, the Elder Wand  won by the headmaster when he dueled Grindelwald  passed its allegiance to young Malfoy, not to Snape, whose ''murder'' of Dumbledore was prearranged and therefore not a defeat. Then Harry won Draco's wand at Malfoy Manor. So when Voldemort tried to kill Harry with the Elder Wand and Harry countered using Draco's wand, the two wands effectively canceled each other out. The Elder Wand realized it was attacking Draco's wand, refused to act against its master, and rebounded the Killing Curse back onto Voldemort. The Dark Lord never had a chance.

Since I read the library book and have returned it, I need to ask other readers of book 7 whether or not Lupin, as well as Tonks, was killed. I can't remember and I was confused by Rowling saying, in an interview, that their child was an orphan.

yes, Remus and Tonks were both killed in the final battle. She didn't explain what happened to their baby, Teddy, but he was left with Tonk's mother, and Ted Tonks (Tonks' father) was killed earlier in the book.

As for the Elder wand, it recognized as a new master whoever had conquered its master (DRaco), whether or not he had the wand with him at the time. So the Elder Wand somehow knew that Harry had defeated Draco, recognized Harry as its new master, and rebounded the spell on Voldermort.

Natasha, The epilogue said what happened to Teddy. He turned out all right. It was Fred who died in the last battle. I don't remember if George was mentioned in the epilogue, but he probably continued his shop.

What I don't recall (and am rereading "The Half-Blood Prince to find out hopefully) when and how Draco obtained the Elder wand from Dumbledore and how D got it back. It was buried with him.

Posted by Parent
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Aug 18, 2007 at 5:11 pm

I think, technically speaking, that Harry was a quarter blood. Lily was obviously half blood because her sister, Petunia, was not a witch and her parents had to be told by school authorities that she was a witch and deserved a place at Hogwarts, rather than Snape's parents who were told by owl. How Hogwarts knows who is born as a witch in a muggle family is not explained.

James was seemingly full blood because he was a true descendant of the Peverell family, although through his mother's line rather than his father's (or else his name would have been Peverell).

I am now entering this discussion because I have finished reading the book. I didn't enjoy this particular book as much as I expected because (and I know this sounds silly) it was too far fetched. The witching world seemed credible and the other books all worked well in this scenario. This book just didn't work for me. The fact that one dark wizard could suddenly turn the whole wizarding world into two sides of a civil war just sounded too unlikely. The knowledge about Harry and his special role in this also sounds too unlikely to cause this to happen. I did like the ending, although the chapter with Dumbledore, which needed to get in somewhere, made little sense to me. I would have preferred this to be an epilogue and left the existing epiglogue out altogether. I would rather have been able to guess at what happened in their futures.

Speaking of the epilogue, it did bring back to mind that this is a children's book written for children rather than adults. It reminded me of the first book in style and content. My daughter reminded me that JK had actually written this epilogue before any of the other books and that may be the reason. Children's books like to tie up the who marries who and what happens next whereas adult books tend not to. The other reason I was not happy with the epilogue is that I didn't like the idea that everything went back to the happy way before. In real life, when something epic happens, the life before is destroyed and something new has to evolve. I would have preferred to see the old Hogwarts being destroyed and a new school being instituted. I would like to have seen perhaps more integration with the muggle world and perhaps more between world happenings. That is probably my adult attitude coming out, but it would have been more satisfying than the everything returned to the old way, just without some of the characters scenario that occurred.

Posted by natasha
a resident of Meadow Park
on Sep 20, 2007 at 1:39 pm

Wasn't it Professor Quirrel, the stutterer, who had Voldemort somehow embedded in the back of his head so he had to wear a turban to cover it up? Sorcereor's stone . . . I think that was the one. Anyone else?

Okay, Hagrid said that he will pick up the hippogriff during the next holiday. He's busy at Hogwarts getting ready for the new term. He would not explain what the creature was doing in the Bay Area or even in the USA. I just found it in my back garden one day this summer.

Luckily, it's a vegetarian but buying all those veggies is costing me my savings. It eats tons a day! Anyone with a garden who wishes to contribute to this cute and hungry creature's nutrition, please write so in this thread. No, I haven't named it and don't know its sex. Hagrid is being very mysterious. It is a gentle and affectionate creature and my cats love sleeping on its back.

Posted by Natalie McDonald
a resident of another community
on Sep 27, 2007 at 2:09 pm

I'm a 7th year at Hogwarts. I started in Harry's 4th year, when Mad Eye was the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. I know what the hippogriff was doing in the USA! This was an exchange program for amaqzing creatures. That's all I can say about that!

Hippogriffs can eat any vegetation at all, including nettles and weeds of all sorts. So put a leash on it and take it to fields that are overgrown. They are better than goats!!!!